Poultry farmer Mr Lloyd is worried consumers would boycott poultry products if the disease crosses the Channel, even though there is no risk from eating eggs.

French officials confirmed the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found on a turkey farmer over there - the first case in France.

Mr Lloyd, an egg producer who has 15,000 laying hens, said: 'So far it hasn't really affected egg sales. We have the highest standards in Europe. There is no danger from eating chickens or eggs.'

The farmer, of Leadgate Farm, Huxley, said precautions were already in place - birds are being checked three times daily and fed inside. He said: 'If we got it they would slaughter all birds within a three-mile radius.

'It would be devastating for the poultry industry.'

Mr Lloyd has been impressed with the way the government has handled the situation and believes any outbreak would be controlled effectively.

He said: 'It will come, but it could be knocked on the head straight away.'

There are no cases of bird flu passing from human to human but people in China, Vietnam and Turkey have died after being in close contact with infected birds.

'They are backyard farmers,' said Mr Lloyd. 'They are living with the chickens.'

Mr Lloyd's company produces 1,000 dozen eggs a day from 10,000 caged birds and 5,000 free-range birds which are sold to about 100 local wholesale and retail outlets and farmers' markets.

If there is an outbreak then Mr Lloyd and other poultry farmers would have to keep free-range hens indoors to prevent the spread of infection. It is unclear if they could still be labelled 'free-range'.

The prospect of bird flu is a worry to all 828 poultry farms in Cheshire which, according to the latest figures, keep a total of 3,232,793 birds.